Vancouver Canucks vs. Ducks Blog: Love’ Em & Hate’ Em

Oh hey look…they won again

So that’s 10-3-1 in December now for the Vancouver Canuckswhich gives them 50 points which ties them for first overall in the league with Chicago and puts them one point over Boston.

Oh look Henrik is back atop the Art Ross race too.

Cool.

All is right with the world. Onto the Love’Em and Hate’Em for the Sharks matchup.

Love’ Em

1. Sedins

The Sedins were up to their usual nonchalant tricks again casually dominating without breaking a sweat.

Henrik Sedin opened the scoring just over a minute in because it just felt right at the time. He had already gone to the effort to leave his hotel room and dress for the game, why not score while he was there?

Later, Daniel led a 3-on-1 and held on the puck for a bit while mentally going over his shopping list before deciding he might as well shoot and score.

And then right at the end the Sedins decided it would be rude not to reward the large contingent of Canucks fans at the game with a tic-tac-toe breath-stealing goal, so they did that. Wasn’t that nice of them?

2.Coho

Cody Hodgson meanwhile scored another last night to give him 20 points on the season. There is no doubt now that this kid is going to be a staple on the Canucks for years to come (unless you believe Tony Gallagher’s paranoid ramblings about his agent and ice time, but who ever listens to agents?).

Hodgson is quickly becoming a player that can carry a line by himself, which will important come Spring.

This was a “road” game because there only a couple thousand Canucks fan in the building vs 18,000 and change.

I mean do you want to stand outside Rogers Arena in the rain and pay some scalper an arm and a leg or do you want fly/road trip it to California and probably get a package deal that gets you a ticket, a hot dog and some beers for the price of parking in Vancouver?

Still, this trend could get testy next year when the California games increase and divisional pride is on the on line.

It will get testy when playoff matchups with California teams become a regular occurrence. This is a potential powderkeg.

One piece of advice for the traveling Canuck fan: if everyone brings an air horn, you can recreate a goal horn.

Hate’ Em

1. Duck Yuck

Man oh man do the Ducks suck. This one was over as soon as Henrik scored. The 3-on-1 goal was an au

Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks Love'Em & Hate'Em

tomatic as soon as the play began.

Right after that goal the Ducks had a two man advantage to get back into the game and allowed a shorthanded breakaway to Alex Burrows, had Bobby Ryan miss a gimme tap in, and then allowed another odd man rush at the end.

That top line is deadly, but what else is there? I haven’t seen a duck that dead on the ice since….well that dead duck on the ice in San Jose.

2. Beauchemin Continuing the trend of playing tough guy while losing, Francois Beauchemin spent a shift in the third trying to engage Ryan Kesler while Kesler was heading off for a line change.

Kesler merely turned the other cheek, this time clothed, and probably asked something how it felt to split a career between Columbus, Toronto, and Anaheim.

3. Possible Rematch?

Finally, the only team as hot as the Vancouver Canucks right now in the league is some team from Boston called the Bruins.

Maybe I’m the only one but I don’t like the Bruins for whatever reason.

Well, next Saturday January 7, these two teams will meet in Boston.

It should be fantastic.

It could be a preview of a Stanley Cup Final rematch. It will definitely get Canuck fans talking about the outcome of Pens-Wings II.

But it’s also on at 10 in the morning which I realize is a tradition when visiting Boston for some reason I don’t know but how in the world do you have a Stanley Cup Final rematch, the only meeting of the season, on a Saturday and start it in the morning?